On the way to the nursing home

    by Michael Mark

I have big plans

for my slow descent –

I’ll tease the hard-faced nurses,

play chicken with their needles,

fake deafness

to stale, over-enunciated news.

Numberless days shrink

in a spineless bed as I watch the light

move closer.

I’ll hum to help sleep find me

for its too-short visits

and collect nicknames like

Champ, Trooper, The Mayor.

I’ll fumble endlessly at the invisible

edges of memories visitors leave

in my room

until I can no longer see out the window.

© 2014  Michael Mark

Michael Mark writes to break things so he can look in and be further mystified. He is the author of two books of fiction, Toba and At the Hands of a Thief (Atheneum). His poetry has appeared and is scheduled to appear in The New York Times, UPAYA, Awakening Consciousness Magazine, Sleet, Empty Mirror, OutsideIn Magazine, Elephant Journal, Everyday Poets, Forge Journal, Angle Journal, The 2014 San Diego Poetry Annual, The Wayfarer, as well as other nice places. Please follow him on Twitter @michaelgrow